Authentic Communication Group

Our purpose is to accelerate the transition to a more authentic, compassionate and just world. Our vision is for people everywhere to share power with open hearts to create a more loving world.

In our work, we rely on Nonviolent Communication to build better relationships. Developed by Marshall Rosenberg, NVC supports heart connection. This language of compassion helps us shift away from judgment, interpretation, analysis, and demands and move toward ways of communication that serve life. In this practice, we take responsibility for our experience. Rather than blaming others, we own our feelings and needs and acknowledge that everyone’s needs matter.

Anisha Pandya

Anisha is a psychotherapist, leadership coach and transformation facilitator from Mumbai, India. She specializes in different conceptual approaches such as Transactional Analysis, Appreciative Inquiry, Nonviolent Communication, Emotional Intelligence, NLP, Process Work. Over the last 15 years, her work has been about helping people lead more fulfilling and authentic lives. Anisha Pandya offers individual as well as group psychotherapy and she has more than 4,000 hours of experience in coaching and psychotherapy with people across sectors. She particularly enjoys facilitating experiential labs and long-term groups for tangible transformation. Anisha Pandya has designed and facilitated multiple workshops on parenting, diversity and inclusion, intimacy, leadership development, conflicts, difficult conversations, gender, power and group dynamics. She is passionate about creating a culture of NVC in families.

Martha Lasley

Martha was a founding partner of Leadership that Works, where she supported social change activists to develop compelling visions, improve their communication, bring spirit into team building, and develop a coaching culture. She has authored three books: Coaching for Transformation; Facilitating with Heart; and Courageous Visions. Martha is a certified trainer for the Center for Nonviolent Communication and has led many International Intensive Trainings. She coaches visionary leaders and teams to develop a culture of collaboration, feedback, authenticity and mutual support. Martha has presented several programs at the annual conference for International Association of Facilitators, including “Facilitating Difficult Conversations,” and “Coaching for Personal & Organizational Transformation.”

Kan Yan

Kan Yan is a first generation Chinese American living in Austin, TX and Berkeley, California. He works as a consultant and executive coach helping purpose-driven leaders and organizations realize their visions through cultivating wisdom and effectiveness. He has worked for the UN, US Federal Courts, and McKinsey & Company where he consulted Fortune 500 clients on leadership development with a focus on mindfulness. His recent work has focused on organizations advocating for psychedelic medicine including developing the strategic plan for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Kan has spent hundreds of days in silent meditation retreat and teaches about Buddhism. He has facilitated process groups focused on shared identities including groups for men, BIPOC, and Chinese heritage people. He teaches contemplative movement practices and loves to bring embodiment into his facilitation.

Kathy G. Brown

Kathy has spearheaded many peer-led Interactive Communication Groups that continue to enrich her life on a personal and professional level. She is passionate about creating safe environments where people can learn to better understand all the complexities of who they are, as well as, who others are. A journalist, mediator, NVC & IFS facilitator, and parenting consultant, Kath has more than 30 years experience as a reporter and editor, and more than 20 years as an NVC facilitator. She also spent 10 years as a certified Aware Parenting Consultant. In addition to participating in and facilitating groups, she volunteers in the 12th Judicial Circuit as a Florida Supreme Court Certified County Mediator. Kathy incorporates NVC and IFS into her mediation practice, called Relationship Conflict Resolution.

Neil Bond

Neil is passionate about IFS, NVC and exploring what is happening in the present moment. He divides his time between group process work, personal IFS work and playing with his grandchildren. He has witnessed and experienced the tranformational power of being truly seen and strives to create a safe space where all parts are welcome. For him, it is clear there are no bad parts and everyone is doing their best to connect and belong. He holds a masters degree in counseling psychology that combined the Humanistic approach with his mindfulness practice.

Kanya Likanasudh, MDiv

Kanya lives in Thailand where she is a pioneer in spreading Nonviolent Communication. She offers transformational programs in communication, conflict resolution, and coaching across all sectors and in prisons. As a board member for the Center for Nonviolent Communication, she challenges people with conflicting viewpoints to understand each other deeply which helps them discover creative solutions. Kanya Likanasudh’s joy in life is to create heart-connecting dialogue about power, privilege, and rank. Through humor and playfulness, she helps people use their privilege to create a more equitable world. Kanya combines meditation, body awareness, Nonviolent Communication, Internal Family Systems, the Integral Approach, and Process Work to deepen learning.

Ethan Baldinger

Ethan lives in a small cabin he built in the woods of coastal California. He practices massage and dance, studies poetry and mathematics, and explores various relational and communication modalities including NVC, T-group, and ACG. He enjoys participation in various ritual, ceremonial and medicinal traditions, including community grief healing and sacred plant work. Ethan is dedicated to the value of healing through relationships and finds the ACG container a rich and profound vehicle for personal growth and collective transformation. He is a passionate advocate of honoring and using feelings to facilitate processes at the levels of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and group.

Shelly Kawatra

Shelly has 15 years of leadership experience as an HR professional in multinational firms. Working with diverse teams across many nationalities, ethnicities and regions she has experience conceptualizing, designing, and implementing leadership transformation journeys for organizations. Shelly is passionate about personal growth and applying her corporate experience to help leaders transform. She is an ICF certified Coach for Transformation, experienced in Internal Family Systems, Nonviolent Communication, process work, and mindfulness. She brings a compassionate and courageous presence, supporting individuals to see the unseen and transform from the inside out. Shelly is moving towards a more radical, authentic version of herself in her relationship with self and the world. An Indian, based out of Dubai, U.A.E, since 2006, her favorite activities include reading, deep conversations, running around with her two boys, and going for long walks.

Brandon Wong

Brandon lives at a rural health clinic in the Peten region of Guatemala. He splits his time between accompanying the work of health promoters and serving clients as a coach and facilitator. He previously worked at a COVID bubble for college students, summer camps across the U.S., an early-stage tech startup, and nonprofits like Ashoka. He’s inspired by liberation theology and engaged Buddhism.

Sonali Kelkar

Sonali Kelkar is the Director of Training for the Coaching for Transformation program offered by Leadership that Works India. She specialises in Leadership Development and partners with individuals and organisations to create high levels of effectiveness. She aims for exponential, not linear, growth for herself and her clients as a leadership coach and facilitator. She collaborates with individuals and organisations in discovering what’s most important for them in their lives, gaining a greater awareness about their strengths and development opportunities, forming thriving relationships that deliver, embracing change and transformation, and creating a compelling future vision for themselves and their team. Her explorative style pivots around building a mutually agreed relationship that digs deep below the surface to identify and understand behavioral patterns and their roots – mindsets, beliefs, attitudes, life experiences and human needs. She blends Experiential Learning, Neuroscience, Internal Family systems and Somatics along with the philosophies of Appreciative Inquiry and Nonviolent Communication. Her deep understanding of individual and group processes, supports clients to explore how their ‘inside’ world impacts their ‘outside’ world.